The Matrix, run on Windows
First, let me say that I am a Windows user. With the exception of a few annoyances, I really like the OS. That said, I laughed out loud at this video, The Matrix Runs on Windows. Enjoy!
The paperclip bit is icing on the cake.
Nerd love: ZXing barcode reader app for G1
My hubby is a programmer for a direct mail company and deals with barcodes a lot. He’s so happy to have found the barcode reader app for our G1 phones.
Then, he decided he wanted to make some QR codes since the postal service codes and UPC codes weren’t enough! So, found a QR code generator and made a QR code for me.
It’s the geeky thing to do, after all.
He e-mailed it to me…Look familiar? They’re great because they are able to contain more data than the standard barcodes we’ve had for years now. And the cool thing about these barcode reading apps is, they’ll even read them off of a monitor!
So, all I had to do was open the barcode reader app and use the phone’s camera to view the code. The app scanned it and decoded the message. This is note passing in the 21st century! Oh, my gosh we are nerds!
So, was his message the equivalent of sweet nothings whispered in my ear?
Mmmm, depends on how you look at it, I guess! It’s a nod to The Princess Bride, so I guess that’s close enough. Click this image to view it full-size.
Passing notes in the 21st century
As you wish, dear. As you wish.
Learning music online
This post’s dedicated to all the musicians of the world.
I am a musician, though I don’t read music. I have excellent pitch, but play by ear; I started with guitar by learning how to play based on basic guitar chord charts and transferred my skills to piano by seeing what notes made up the guitar chords and playing them on piano.A pianist friend told me I played inverted chords on the piano and it’s because of this hearing the notes in the order of the guitar strings. Interesting.
I don’t play bar chords on the guitar as they were always too demanding of my wrist and I lacked the strength in my fingers to do them well. I know just enough to realize the higher the notes are on the little lines, the higher they are to the ear, and I know that certain notes mean certain time intervals, like a whole note is four beats, a quarter note is one, etc.
Don’t ask me to play from sheet music unless I already know the song and there are guitar chords printed above the music so I can sound it all out and memorize it. I don’t even know how to read guitar tabs, but from the looks of it, it shouldn’t be hard for me to learn if I just take the time to learn it.
The time. That’s just it. If I want to get back into music, I need to discipline myself to take the time to learn it, and I don’t know if I want it that badly. Crazy, isn’t it? People who’ve known me for less than thirteen or so often don’t know that I play or that I used to write a lot of songs. I have not picked up my 12-string guitar or played my keyboard in years. How sad is that?
I did take the step of having Howie bring my keyboard up out of the basement and set it up on its stand in the office, at least. It’s there, waiting. So is my guitar. Unless the strings stay in good shape for over a decade of disuse, they need to be replaced.
That said, there are millions out there who can not only read guitar chords and tabs, but sheet music. They can pick up an unfamiliar piece and bring it to life the first time they play through it. What must that be like? Wow.
I have some great links for any musician looking for music. And the drumroll please…
8Notes.com
A great site which offers free sheet music for piano, guitar, brass and more. This looks like a great resource with an active forum. It looks like they offer a lot for free and extras for those who subscribe to a paid service.
Musictheory.net
This site by Ricci Adams offers free lessons, training games, and music utilities online. Further, it offers the complete course in downloadable version!
If you have any favorite free music-related sites, please let me know. I’d love to expand on the links in this entry.
You still have time to vote!
We’ve voted. Have you? C’mon, it’s important!
Find more videos like this on teshnetwork
Wonder how late the polls are open in your area? Here’s a list, courtesy of Fox News:
CA, OR, WA close at 11:00pm
NV,ID,UT, MT close at 10:00pm
AZ, CO, WY, NM, NE, MN, WI, LA, NY RI close at 9:00pm
TX, OK, KS, SD, MO, MS, AL, TN, PA, ME, MA, CT, NJ, DE, MD, DC close at 8:00pm
AR closes at 8:30pm
OH, WV close at 7:30pm
FL, GA, SC, VA, VT and west KY close at 7:00pm
Most of IN and east KY close at 6:00pm
Hawaii closes at 1:00am and Alaska closes at 12:00am
So, how about getting out and voting? I’d be lying if I said I don’t care who you vote for, but it’s important you exercise your voice as an American even if you don’t vote for the same folks we do. 
Seriously.
Finally tried Twitter
I’ve heard people talk about Twitter for the past year or so, but never gave it a whirl. Normally, I love trying out new applications that warrant a nod on the tech blogs and other sites I read. I’m a geek, you know? What held me back was the thought that Twitter is just a frivolous, mini newsfeed designed to let people tell their friends what they are eating for lunch, what color socks they’re wearing, and other ultimately unimportant details of their daily lives.
Well, I finally gave it a chance, and I like what I see. Yes, there is a lot of clutter out there in the Twitterverse, there’s no doubt about that. However, there’s also a lot of interesting, useful stuff. Used in conjunction with third-party developers, bloggers can twitter the link to their latest blog posts.
I am far more likely to pop over and read a blog post if I see a twitter about it. I do use RSS feeds via Google Reader, but my reading list has become so bloated, it’s overwhelming. I really need to shave that down and, at the least, reorganize it into daily reads, weekly reads. Twitter helps me cut through the clutter. Of course, if you look at the opposite end of the equasion, you can see that Twitter gives bloggers and other content providers an advantage when it comes to visibility.
For that reason alone, I would use Twitter, both as a blogger and a reader. It’s also interesting to me as a marketing nerd since it is a popular way for marketers to feel the pulse of consumers and to disperse content to them in bite-sized portions. I like hearing what other people find interesting online, too, and many people use Twitter to post links to videos, news stories, and other online content.
I’m incorporating this blog into my Twitter feed now, using Twitterfeed for now. It uses my site’s RSS feed, checking for a new feed every hour, and posts a Twitter when it finds one. I will probably incorporate a WordPress plugin which automatically sends a Twitter whenever I post a blog entry. That way, it’s not dependent on a third-party site.
I’m pretty judicious when it comes to who I will follow on Twitter, though, because I know it could quickly become like my reading list at Google Reader!
Charlie bit me!
I’m not sure how I ran across this video just now, but I’m glad I did. Harry and Charlie are brothers. At one time, Harry thought it was funny to put his finger in Charlie’s mouth, because Charlie bit it. Harry knows better now…
They couldn’t have planned this. Harry’s expression at about :20 into it is priceless. And Charlie’s obviously delighted with the whole thing. The boys’ parents are expecting a baby (another boy!) in June 2009. Look out, Charlie; paybacks are hell.
Favorite Pushing Daisies quotes this week
I thought Emerson’s reaction to Olive being a nun was hysterical…It tickled me how he kept blocking his view of everything except her face, then not, then covering everything…
Olive’s way of speaking kills me. As the Depends-like package appears in the jumble of worldly goods falling from the nun’s closet, she says, “Ohhh, top shelf fem products!”.
Best yet, the Mother Superior’s assertion after calling the Vatican to check on Chuck, who is dressed as a nun and says her name is Sister Christian…
“‘Sister Christian’ is nothing but a heavy petting power ballad”.
Priceless. Especially coming from the mouths of those characters.
I must say, it killed me for Olive to spend two episodes in a mountain convent. And. Not. Sing. I got it, okay? It’s all “Hey guys! Let’s have Kristin look like she’s in the freakin’ Sound of Music, but not have her even hum a little tune or anything!” She even twirled around like Maria, for Pete’s sake!
Oh, you miserable teases.
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